Verifying the identity of an individual or entity is a common occurrence for many financial, business, and other transactions. For example, before an individual can open a checking account, a bank typically requires that the individual establish that they are, in fact, who they claim to be. Traditionally, this requirement is satisfied by the individual presenting a drivers' license and a recent utility bill, or other piece of official mail addressed to the individual. However, this can be cumbersome for the individual, who often has to physically present the required documents to the requestor. Also, because the individual typically must verify his or her identity to many different institutions for many different purposes, it can become a nuisance to have to repeatedly locate the particular information that is requested and provide it to the requestor. This is also less than ideal for the requestor of the documents, who may not be competent to (or may not want to) verify that the documents are legitimate, or may not want to store the documents and deal with document security, privacy, retention, and destruction issues.
Moreover, financial and other transactions are increasingly performed electronically and/or over long distances. This may make it even more impractical for individuals to provide original copies of documents to the requestor. Also, because the parties may not ever meet face-to-face, it places even more importance on accurate verification that the individual is, or at least, is likely to be, who he or she claims to be.